According to de scriptures of aww Buddhist schoows, de first Buddhist Counciw was hewd soon after de deaf of de Buddha, dated by de majority of recent schowars around 400 BCE,[1] under de patronage of de king Ajatashatru wif de monk Mahakasyapa presiding, at Sattapanni caves Rajgriha (now Rajgir). Its objective was to preserve de Buddha's sayings (suttas) and de monastic discipwine or ruwes (Vinaya). The Suttas were recited by Ananda, and de Vinaya was recited by Upawi. According to D.N. commentary's introduction, de Abhidhamma Pitaka, or its matika, and ancient commentary was awso incwuded. Awso, de Sangha made de unanimous decision to keep aww de ruwes of de Vinaya, even de wesser and de minor ruwes.

Schowars of Indian Buddhism have generawwy tended to dismiss dis counciw as an actuaw historicaw event[2], awdough many evidences[3] in tipitaka and in atdakada appeared de tipitaka-memorizers were very serious to keep tipitaka in originaw form.

The circumstances surrounding de First Buddhist Counciw are recorded in de Vinaya Pitaka of de earwy Buddhist schoows. The text is cawwed de Recitation of Five-Hundred (Pañ­casatikakkhandhaka) because five hundred senior monks were chosen by de community to cowwect and cwarify de Buddha's teachings.

The historicaw records for de so-cawwed "Second Buddhist Counciw" derive primariwy from de canonicaw Vinayas of various schoows. In most cases, dese accounts are found at de end of de Skandhaka portion of de Vinaya. Whiwe inevitabwy disagreeing on points of detaiws, dey neverdewess agree dat de root dispute was points of vinaya or monastic discipwine.

The Second Counciw resuwted in de first schism in de Sangha. Modern schowars see dis event as probabwy caused by a group of reformists cawwed Sdaviras who spwit from de conservative majority Mahāsāṃghikas.[4] This view is supported by de vinaya texts demsewves, as vinayas associated wif de Sdaviras do contain more ruwes dan dose of de Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya.[5]

Virtuawwy aww schowars agree dat dis second counciw was a historicaw event.[6] There is no agreement however on de dating of de event or if it was pre or post Ashoka (304–232 BCE).[7]

It was hewd at Vaishawi under de patronage of King Kawasoka and de presidency of Sabakami.

In striking contrast to de uniform accounts of de Second Counciw, dere are records of severaw possibwe "Third Counciws". These different versions function to audorize de founding of one particuwar schoow or oder.

According to de Theravāda commentaries and chronicwes, de Third Buddhist Counciw was convened by de Mauryan king Ashoka at Pātawiputra (today's Patna), under de weadership of de monk Moggawiputta Tissa.[8] Its objective was to purify de Buddhist movement, particuwarwy from opportunistic factions which had been attracted by de royaw patronage. The king asked de suspect monks what de Buddha taught, and dey cwaimed he taught views such as eternawism, etc., which are condemned in de canonicaw Brahmajawa Sutta. He asked de virtuous monks, and dey repwied dat de Buddha was a "Teacher of Anawysis" (Vibhajjavādin), an answer dat was confirmed by Moggawiputta Tissa.[9] The Counciw proceeded to recite de scriptures once more, adding to de canon Moggawiputta Tissa's own book, de Kadavatdu, a discussion of various dissenting Buddhist views now contained in de Theravāda Abhidhamma Pitaka. This counciw seems to have been de cause of de spwit between de Sarvastivada and de Vibhajjavāda schoows.[10]

Awso, emissaries were sent to various countries in order to spread Buddhism, as far as de Greek kingdoms in de West (in particuwar de neighboring Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, and possibwy even farder according to de inscriptions weft on stone piwwars by Ashoka). According to Frauwawwner (Frauwawwner, 1956), severaw of dese missionaries were responsibwe for founding schoows in various parts of India: Majjhantika was de fader of de Kasmiri Sarvastivādins; Yonaka Dhammarakkhita may have been de founder of de Dharmaguptaka schoow; Mahādeva, sent to de Mahisa country may have been de founder of de Mahisasakas; and severaw teachers travewwed to de Himawayas where dey founded de Haimavata schoow, incwuding a certain Kassapagotta, who may be connected wif de Kasyapiyas. Rewics of some of de Haimavata monks have been excavated at Vedisa in centraw India.[11] The most famous of de missionaries, and de main focus of interest for dese Theravada histories, is Mahinda, who travewwed to Sri Lanka where he founded de schoow we now know as Theravada.

The Theravāda's own Dipavamsa records a qwite different Counciw cawwed de "Great Recitaw" (Mahāsangiti), which it cwaims was hewd by de reformed Vajjiputtakas fowwowing deir defeat at de Second Counciw. The Dipavamsa criticizes de Mahasangitikas (who are de same as de Mahasanghikas) for rejecting various texts as non-canonicaw: de [Vinaya] Parivāra; de 6 books of de Abhidhamma; de Patisambhida; de Niddesa; part of de Jatakas; and some verses. (Dipavamsa 76, 82)

The Mahāsanghika, for deir part, remember dings differentwy: dey awwege, in de Sāriputraparipriccha dat dere was an attempt to unduwy expand de owd Vinaya. The Mahasanghikas' own vinaya gives essentiawwy de same account of de Second Counciw as de oders, i.e. dey were on de same side.

An entirewy different account of Mahāsanghika origins is found in de works of de Sarvāstivāda group of schoows. Vasumitra tewws of a dispute in Pātawiputra at de time of Ashoka over five hereticaw points: dat an Arahant can have nocturnaw emission; dat he can have doubts; dat he can be taught by anoder; dat he can wack knowwedge; and dat de paf can be aroused by crying "What suffering!". These same points are discussed and condemned in Moggawiputta Tissa's Kadavatdu, but dere is no mention of dis Counciw in Theravadin sources. The water Mahavibhasa devewops dis story into a wurid smear campaign against de Mahasanghika founder, who it identifies as "Mahadeva". This version of events emphasizes de purity of de Kasmiri Sarvastivadins, who are portrayed as descended from de arahants who fwed persecution due to Mahadeva.

By de time of de Fourf Buddhist counciws, Buddhism had wong since spwintered into different schoows. The Theravada had a Fourf Buddhist Counciw in de first century BCE in Tambapanni, i.e. Sri Lanka, at Awoka Lena now Awu Vihara during de time of King Vattagamani-Abaya. However it shouwd be cwarified dat an anonymous wocaw chieftain had given patronage and not de king, since he was a firm fowwower of de Abayagir schoow (a Mahayana Sect.). In fact one of de main reasons for de Counciw was de cruew powicy de king hewd against de Mahavihara Priests who were Theravadians who were once attacked at de Mahavihara Premises kiwwing many and driving away de oders. The tempwe was destroyed and in its pwace a Mahayana Tempwe was buiwt. The oder main reasons for de Counciw were de unstabwe powiticaw situation widin de country due to constant invasions which wead de king himsewf to fwee severaw times and awso severe famine. It is said to have been devoted to committing de entire Pawi Canon to writing, which had previouswy been preserved by memory. No mention had been made as to who wed dis Counciw, for which de approximate cause wouwd have been de deteriorating status of Buddhism den, and de cowwective effort by de priesdood to preserve de rewigion in its purest form derefore not needing a weader(onwy de fact dat de Mahavihara priesdood i.e. Theravada schoow took part in dis recitaw and compiwation had been mentioned).

Anoder Fourf Buddhist Counciw was hewd in de Sarvastivada tradition, said to have been convened by de Kushan emperor Kanishka, in 78 AD at Kundawban in Kashmir. It is said dat Kanishka gadered five hundred Bhikkhus in Kashmir, headed by Vasumitra, to systematize de Sarvastivadin Abhidharma texts, which were transwated from earwier Prakrit vernacuwar wanguages (such as Gandhari in Kharosdi script) into de cwassicaw wanguage of Sanskrit. It is said dat during de counciw dree hundred dousand verses and over nine miwwion statements were compiwed, a process which took twewve years to compwete. Awdough de Sarvastivada are no wonger extant as an independent schoow, its traditions were inherited by de Mahayana tradition, uh-hah-hah-hah. The wate Professor Etienne Lamotte, an eminent Buddhowogist, hewd dat Kanishka's Counciw was fictitious.[12] However, David Snewwgrove, anoder eminent Buddhowogist, considers de Theravada account of de Third Counciw and de Sarvastivada account of de Fourf Counciw "eqwawwy tendentious," iwwustrating de uncertain veracity of much of dese histories.[13]

Anoder Buddhist Counciw, dis time presided by Theravada monks took pwace in Mandaway, Burma, in 1871 in de reign of King Mindon, uh-hah-hah-hah. The chief objective of dis meeting was to recite aww de teachings of de Buddha and examine dem in minute detaiw to see if any of dem had been awtered, distorted or dropped. It was presided over by dree Ewders, de Venerabwe Mahadera Jagarabhivamsa, de Venerabwe Narindabhidhaja, and de Venerabwe Mahadera Sumangawasami in de company of some two dousand four hundred monks (2,400). Their joint Dhamma recitation wasted for five monds. It was awso de work of dis counciw to approve de entire Tripitaka inscribed for posterity on seven hundred and twenty-nine marbwe swabs in de Burmese script before its recitation, uh-hah-hah-hah.[14] This monumentaw task was done by de monks and many skiwwed craftsmen who upon compwetion of each swab had dem housed in beautifuw miniature 'pitaka' pagodas on a speciaw site in de grounds of King Mindon's Kudodaw Pagoda at de foot of Mandaway Hiww where it and de so-cawwed 'wargest book in de worwd', stands to dis day. This Counciw is not generawwy recognized outside Burma.[15]

The Sixf Counciw was cawwed at Kaba Aye in Yangon (formerwy Rangoon) in 1954, 83 years after de fiff one was hewd in Mandaway. It was sponsored by de Burmese Government wed by de den Prime Minister, de Honourabwe U Nu. He audorized de construction of de Maha Passana Guha, de "great cave", an artificiaw cave very much wike India's Sattapanni Cave where de first Buddhist Counciw had been hewd. Upon its compwetion The Counciw met on 17 May 1954.

As in de case of de preceding counciws, its first objective was to affirm and preserve de genuine Dhamma and Vinaya. However it was uniqwe insofar as de monks who took part in it came from eight countries. These two dousand five hundred wearned Theravada monks came from Myanmar, Thaiwand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, India, and Nepaw. Germany can onwy be counted as de nationawity of de onwy two western monks in attendance: Venerabwe Nyanatiwoka Mahadera and Venerabwe Nyanaponika Thera. They bof were invited from Sri Lanka. The wate Venerabwe Mahasi Sayadaw was appointed de nobwe task of asking de reqwired qwestions about de Dhamma of de Venerabwe Bhadanta Vicittasarabhivamsa who answered aww of dem wearnedwy and satisfactoriwy. By de time dis counciw met aww de participating countries had had de Pawi Tripiṭaka rendered into deir native scripts, wif de exception of India.[16]

The traditionaw recitation of de Buddhist Scriptures took two years and de Tripiṭaka and its awwied witerature in aww de scripts were painstakingwy examined and deir differences noted down and de necessary corrections made and aww de versions were den cowwated. It was found dat dere was not much difference in de content of any of de texts. Finawwy, after de Counciw had officiawwy approved dem, aww of de books of de Tipitaka and deir commentaries were prepared for printing on modern presses and pubwished in de Burmese script. This notabwe achievement was made possibwe drough de dedicated efforts of de two dousand five hundred monks and numerous way peopwe. Their work came to an end on de evening of Vesak, 24 May 1956, exactwy two and a hawf miwwennia after Buddha's Parinibbana, according to de traditionaw Theravada dating.